English and Other Languages

English and Other Languages

Chapter 6

English has co-existed throughout its history with other languages across nations, institutions and communities.

Chapter 6 discusses language contact, focusing on status and use of English alongside other languages in contemporary multilingual contexts.

Bilingual individuals and communities commonly deploy their languages in complementary ways, using one language for some functions and others for other functions.

The selections are often made unconsciously and are shaped by:

a)Circumstances under which English came into the communities, by particular considerations;

b)Qualities associated with each language progress or conservatism

c)Cultural rootedness or neutrality

d)Particular religion, ethnic group or social class

Languages usually have several associations, some of which are intension with one another. As a result, people may be very ambivalent about a language. They may value it, [such as in the case of English] because they see it as giving access to certain economic benefits and upward social mobility, but also dislike it because it is the mother tongue of people who oppress(ed) them.. . esp. in former British colonies. . . the spread of English among speakers of other language received both support and opposition (p.245).

The phenomena of contact to be discussed occur mostly in bilingual and multilingual communities.

Home language(s) are languages usually used in a home and acquired by its children.

Encounters with English:

In countries where English is a foreignlanguage, such as those in Kachru’s ‘Expanding Circle,’ the school classroom is the main site where speakers of other languages meet up with, learn and use English. Where opportunities for face to face teaching and learning in English are very limited, people might still be able to gain some ability to read and write the language, through a combination of self-instruction manuals, CDs and DVDs.

Other means of ‘accessing’ the language are:

• the English language radio and television programs, available through satellite technology.
• Formal teaching and learning favors standard Englishes, whereas radio, television and the internet are more hospitable to other varieties of English.
• [But this competence in spoken language varieties] is not automatically used in speech or writing. For example, Japanese rap groups come to be, in an attempt to incorporate the English of American culture. Pennycook argues that this is used ‘more symbolically than mimetically.”

Unfettered access to English language programs and internet content sometimes gets mixed reception.

-It is welcomed by some people as a carrier of a rich range of new ideas and possibilities.

- On the other hand, that very quality may make other people fear and reject it, seeing it as a bearer of ideas that could erode traditional knowledge, practices and values [what Philipson calls linguistic imperialism]. (246,247).

Informal access to English is becoming easier, pressure to have access to classes where English is taught systematically and intensively to adults is on the increase throughout the world.

In the ‘Inner Circle’ countries, English has become a mother tongue for the vast majority of the population and therefore has a very important position.

In the ‘Outer Circle’ countries, the position of English and its relative status to other languages usually has been achieved through

‘legistlation to implement government policy decisions’ (p.250).

National language policy and planning in multilingual countries:

Language policyis the set of broad goals – political, social, economic, linguistic – that policy developers hope to achieve by focusing on aspects of the use of languages in particular countries or institutions.

Language planning identifies the processes of policy implementation.

The development of a new language policy at national/governmental level usually takes place only at times of major political change; for example, after a war, or at the time of declaring independence. .. usually determined by politicians…

Plans to implement policy have to be devised. At that stage, it sometimes becomes clear that politicians who devised the policy have not fully considered all the conditions in the country (or institution) and therefore come up with a policy that is impossible to implement.

Typically, legislation regulates which languages are to be used for official purposes in government at all levels (national, regional and local), in the civil service, educational institutions, the legal domain, and relations with other countries. As official languages, they are given high status. Some countries also identify an indigenous language as a national language. Its main value is symbolic. . . “ratherlike the flag: it is valued as a symbol of national identity and people feel strongly about it.” An official language is more like the post office: it is valued as an institution through which things get done, communications happen…”

The process of planning how to give effect to these decisions is called status planning. It is usually accompanied by what is known an acquisition planning, which is planning for how people will learn the official languages and other languages which the government regards as necessary for economic and other reasons.

Major political changes sometimes bring to power groups of people who were formerly marginalized. Such groups sometimes insist that their languages be given the status and functions of official languages partly as a sign of respect for the speakers, but partly to make it easier for them to gain access to state services, by using their own language. To equip the language to handle the range of new functions that come with being an official language…its linguistic ‘body’ or corpus has to be developed: vocabulary has to be greatly expanded…;new discourse forms need to be developed…Working out how that can be best done, and doing it, is the domain of corpus planning, which involves linguists and educators.

Language policy identifies goals, but in practice, goals are not always met. Recognition of discrepancies between policy and practice does not immediately lead to formulation of policy ….(because) thorough implementation is slow and expensive, (and) language policies usually stay in place till there is very strong political or economic pressure for them (pp.250-2).

See examples on Pakistan, Tanzania and Namibia (pp. 252-257).

Pakistan (252-3) –

-1947 Britain relinquished control; West Pakistan & East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) split into independent countries at the end of 1971.

-English was used as formal language of education during British rule. As it was not involved with identity symbols for various ethno-nationalist and religious movements, the Pakistani government saw it as a useful too, post-independence, to unify the newly established political entity while at the same time carrying out the day to day activities such as education, administration… so these factors favored keeping English as an official language. Yet its retention was strongly opposed by religious parties ‘who felt that maintaining the status of English symbolized a new form of colonization).

-Desire was that in an Islamic state, a local language used by the Muslim community should be promoted. Urdu received the strongest support.

-1977, when General Zia-ul-Haq led a military coup, that paved the way for a more comprehensive Urduisation of the state.

-Schools for the elite continued to teach English and the demand for English as medium of education grew, even –covertly- among government supporters.

-By 1987, it was clear that political will for Urduisation was losing strength, the policy had been too hasty about implementing, without proper planning, and subsequent governments promoted English for its value in linking the country’s development into global political and economic spheres.

-Urdu (in2012) is the national language while both Urdu and English have official status.

Tanzania (254-5) –

-British colony in East Africa, for only 40 years; it gained its independence in 1961; English was already firmly established as the language of the colonial government;

-Post-independence government wanted to turn away from Western capitalist models and build a classless society based on Ujama, an African form of socialism and self –reliance.

-The unifying vehicle was Swahili, rather than English.

-1967-1974 was a strong period of antagonism towards Britain and other capitalist countries and Swahili was strongly promoted.

-Enormous efforts were put into corpus and acquisition planning. But full Swahilization didn’t come about. Political events and economic pressures nationally and internationally changed people’s perceptions of remaining isolated from the West.

-English regained pre-1967 prestige, and Swahili has attained an unprecedented level of spread and importance of use (Blommerat, 1999).

-Both languages are used in political discourse, and in education, thought at different levels. Swahili is used more predominantly in primary and adult education, while English is used in secondary and tertiary education.

-People make creative use of elements of other varieties of the languages which have local value, like blending sounds and words from non-standard Swahili and non-standard English tocreat written texts such as shop signs.

Namibia [example of multilingual contexts that are not ex-colonies of Britain (254-8) –

English and other languages in communities and families:

What are patterns of bilingualism? How is an original language maintained? What role does the new language adopt?

Language policies do not necessarily determine how people will use language, and the resources that come with them. Communities and families are key sites where relationships between languages are established and challenged.

When changes of language policy or changes in circumstances (such as alterations to national borders, new trade opportunities, or migration) bring a new language (N), within reach of a community or family, members of the community or family will learn and use it only if they perceive that they will benefit from doing so.

They may continue using their other languages (O) for most functions, while using (N) exclusively for interactions emanating from the change in circumstances. . .[Gradually] N may start to be used increasingly alongside O in established domains such as schools and later also in homes … if this co-existence persists over a long period, we describe it as stable bilingualism. . . Stable bilingual communities or families are usually characterized by a strong sense of the importance of their heritage and of O, the language originally associated with it. Their beliefs and daily practices promote what is called language maintenance.If a community or family begin to associate N exclusively with identities or a way of life that they prefer to their own, it may gradually come to use only N for functhions that O used to perform, until over three or more generations, O is abandoned entirely in favor of N. This process, known as language shift, is seldom smooth and uncontested. . .[but] if no other communities speak or read this language, language deathmay be said to have occurred… if there are written texts, the language does not necessarily pass into total oblivion (box pp.259-260) .

Examples of stable bilingualism are not restricted to communities where English has a historically special status such as predominantly English speaking communities or ex-colonies. This has extended lately to some “Expanding circle” contexts, such as the Scandinavian countries (Remember the example of Finland and the role English has in the Netherlands, esp. in higher education). These countries smoothly (comfortably) move between using English for special purposes and in domains of ideas that are usually disseminated primarily in English (talk shows , some internet use, higher education..) but not in others; English doesn’t displace the original home languages .. and its move into the home domain is often facilitated by children who usually speak it outside the home.

If the parents also speak English at home with the children … it is possible for ‘home topics’ to be spoken in English. Examples of such situation where English becomes a home language are Singapore and South Africa, particularly among urban middle-class families. . . People gain ‘local ownership of global English – as “one of (their) own” as Bhatt says, and thinks that there is a need ‘to abandon the use of the label “non-native speaker” for multilingual subjects from postcolonial contexts” communities would have appropriated English and localized its usage, the members should be treated as “native speakers”(260).

Where communities’ own languages seem to have little currency in the wider world, younger people may not want to continue using them. Language shift happens over generations, such as in the case of loss of Gaelic and Celtic languages, in Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

In Wales efforts to halt the shift to English and revitalize the use of Welsh have been met with success (cooperation between strong civil society organizations and the Welsh Assembly Government).The process is complex and is affected by political and economic factors, and by differing perceptions of the connections between the Welsh language and Welsh identity.

Native American communities in the USA are trying to prevent their language from dying out . . . working with community members to develop descriptions of the languages and dictionaries.

Families isolated through migration often undergo language shift in as little as three generations, but can be maintained and preserved by insistence on identity, such as the case of Chinese in Tyneside communities.

English is in high demand as a source of job, education and technological advantages, but there are also concerns about its effects on other languages and the cultures with which those languages are associated. There is a fear that the global spread of English may lead to the eventual death of native languages; ‘invasion’ by English into the territories of other languages has caused English to be labeled as a “killer language” and the process has been described as “linguicide” (Sutnabb-Kangas and Philipson, 2001), although English doesn’t always have this effect (261 -3).

Speaking Bilingually: Switching between English and other languages

Bilinguals do not always choose one language or another for a conversation. They may switch between their languages within one conversation. The moment by moment alteration between languages is termed codeswitching, where ‘code’ refers to a distinct language or language variety: for example, a dialect, or accent.

Codeswiching, especially in the case of switching between English and other languages, may happen:

-for just one phrase, or form much longer

-within the same sentence or between sentences.

Codeswichingmay be planned or unplanned, conscious or unconscious.

The briefest switch to another language would be for a loanword or borrowing; for example, borrowing French words into English such as haute couture, de rigueur, or from English into French such as un scoop, un squat, un lifting.

These borrowingsofvocabulary words have many types and functions:

• The most common is to fill in gaps in the language they are borrowed into.

Recent borrowings retain signs of their origins, as well as their social functions. “English (according to Marie Noelle Lamy) may be seen as fashionable, particularly by young French (and other) people who wish to identify with the prestigious dynamic Anglo-American culture conveyed to them through TV, the Web, pop music, and films” (Lamy, 2007 in Seargent & Swann p.264). [refer to the reasons for the popularity and mechanisms of global spread of English in Chapter 4] .

• Switching to another language can signal particular ‘belonging’. The primary function of that process is sometimes termed emblematic switching,that is symbolic switching. It is often used to indicate ancestry especially when the speaker(s) are no longer completely familiar with their ancestral language. Idioms from the ancestral language may be used, and this process gives access to concepts which the speaker feels cannot be adequately rendered in English.
• When speakers pick up and use words or phrases which are not part of their heritage, that is called language crossing; that defines the use of a language, or language variety, that isn’t generally felt to ‘belong’ to the speaker. The speaker lacks proficiency in the language he/she is switching to, and unlike emblematic crossing, also lacks any insider status in the group whose language she or he is drawing on.

This type of crossing may be used to add unfavorable comment about a certain group, especially one who uses a creole or a non-standard variety of English.

• Switching between languages may be deeply involved in the enactment of identity. Consciously or unconsciously through the way we speak in various interactions, wesignal something about ourselves, or about how- we would like to be seen: as learned/ cool/ exotic/ working class, etc. People sometimes switch to try to present themselves favorably (265).

Piaget & Tabouret-Keller refer to three main questions relevant in the process of switching and its relation to identity:

• Who am I?
• How am I perceived?
• How do I want to be perceived?

… none of us has a single identity. Social scientists talk of people ‘enacting identities’ rather than ‘having an identity.’ We construct identities in interaction…

“the social environment of almost any individual would by definition be polycentric, with a wide range of overlapping and criss-crossing centers to which orientations need to be made and evidently with multiple ‘belongings’ for individuals (often understood as ‘mixed’ or ‘hybrid’ identities)”

(Blommaert, 2005, p.394 – qtd in Seargent and Swann, 2655)

• One function of switching is the negotiation of identities between speakers, according to the examples of switches between English and Swahili in a Nairobi company,especially the higher status of English and its speakers (Carol Myers-Scotton’s example(s)).
• Switching can be triggered by ‘big’ factors such as shifts in topic or situation; they can also be more fluid, and serve subtle interpersonal, stylistic or rhetorical functions… evoking a different role or aspect of one’s own identity, or that of an interlocutor(267-8).
• Prolonged language contact can result in a weaving of languages which is tighter than seen in examples of codeswitching (Naribo – Swahili and English/ Spanish and English in a Gibraltalr school staffroom).

At some level, the two languages can become sufficiently integrated in the minds of speakers for them to be able to draw on both without always attending to their (also) being different systems. The local varieties of the two languages may converge sufficiently in phonology and syntax to facilitate combination into one code – a hybrid ormixed code.